MH-235 Busdriver - Fear Of A Black TangentWith the most cohesive work of his career, Busdriver turns his razor sharp wit on his place in the music industry with his new full-length release, Fear Of A Black Tangent. It is the follow-up to his career establishing release, Temporary Forever. Songs covering small club touring, independent music promotion, and the barrage of uninspired hip-hop releases on the market all contribute to the album's theme of trying to break as a emerging artist. Busdriver has taken a year's worth of material and trimmed it down to thirteen impressive tracks that range from lightning fast Project Blowed style raps to sing-song pop. The album features production by Daedelus, Danger Mouse, Thavius Beck, Omid, and Paris Zax and has guest appearances by fellow Project Blowed MCs Abstract Rude, Ellay Khule, Mikah-9, and 2Mex.

Fear Of A Black Tangent, is obviously a pun on Fear Of A Black Planet the seminal album by Pubic Enemy. Much of what Busdriver does on this, his second album is quite off the wall, as the title may suggest. This LA native is part of the progressive rap scene, where rappers are thinking a little more freely about their craft and what they can do with their art. This has to be a good thing. Rap as a genre has never really pushed many boundaries in the way that say, jazz has. Mr. Bus has surely been listening to a lot of Kool Keith records, which can never be a bad thing. The lyrics are frequently too fast to take in on the first listen, not in a Bone Thugs n' Harmony way, more in a Buck 65 way, but this just makes you go back and listen again as the lyrics that you do hear are very intriguing. Some of the tracks like "Befriend the Friendless Friendster" bounce around like a Gilbert and Sullivan song that has drunk too much Sunny D. On "Reheated Pop!" he comes out with some great lines like: "No need to ask how, a dead rapper can be a labelsí cash cow" dealing with a subject few rappers probably have, how labels are making huge sums of money out of their dead artist roster. Most of the album is like this. Lyrics dealing with thoughts, feelings and scenarios, such as groupies, racial bias and an unfailingly fickle fanbase. With production from Danger Mouse, Omid and Daedelus among others, the album wraps itself around you and holds on for the whole Bus ride to aural pleasure. - No Wax